A six-year journey

THE LAST STEP: Maori art and design school Toihoukura associate professor Steve Gibbs has condensed six years of work into an exhibition that will be part of his doctoral study exam.File picture

Part of Maori art and design school Toihoukura tutor Steve Gibbs' doctoral study is an exhibition that concentrates six years' worth of paintings, drawings and research into a single exhibition.

“I finished my PhD and now I have an exhibition which is part of the exam,” says the school's associate professor.

“The challenge is to exhibit six years of work so it's about putting up the essence of that work. This is the last part.”

The research body of work is called Te Hoe Nukuroa — the paddles that are still traversing the globe.

Video presentations that tell the story of that past six years will be a significant component of the exhibition.

The last part of Gibbs' doctoral research was his involvement with Tu te Whaihanga, the exhibition at Tairawhiti Museum of 37 taonga on loan from European museums.

“The focus of my PhD was initially to find the hoe (waka paddles) overseas but then we discovered a whole lot of other stuff was there and began the process of bringing them back,” says Gibbs.

“We established a group called Kanohi Ora that was to show the British Museum we are the living faces of the people who made the taonga.”

Some of the taonga held in British museums can be traced back to a meeting between the crew of explorer James Cook's ship, Endeavour, and members of Ngai Tamanuhiri on October 12, 1769.

In 2016, Ngai Tamanuhiri established a relationship with international museums that housed taonga from this region.

This led to a conversation that led to the loan of 37 taonga.

“The body of my work is based on looking at taonga and the value of taonga from Turanganui-a-Kiwa,” says Gibbs.

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